>Pondering a question for a possible upcoming article; Is the Septuaginta
>"authoritative" or simply "accommodative" or both.

"Authority" is in the eyes of the beholder. I will let the real scholars
debate Jesus' level of Greek usage and that of his congregation. But
clearly the leaders and formulators of the early christian church doctrine
used the LXX as their source for Old Testament citations. The Eastern
Orthodox jurisdictions and the Roman Catholic church hold the LXX to be THE
AUTHORITATIVE version for their respective churches. We do disagree to what
extent the Apocrapha are included in scripture, but not by much.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition our liturgical books and readers are all
taken from the LXX. However, we did not declare this our preferred version
explicitly till after the Reformation.

For Roman Catholics the council of Trent declared the LXX to be an inspired
translation and that all differences between Hebrew and LXX the LXX is to be
the "Authority".

Since the reformation most Protestant denominations view the Hebrew version
as authoritative and the Apochrapha as "usefull for the spiritually strong"
as Martin Luther called it.

The citation of the virgin to give birth by Mathew is probably the most
often cited difference between Hebrew and LXX scripture. LXX has virgin and
Hebrew young woman. A significant difference given the outcome of the
council of Ephesus for Mary being a virgin.